Research

The TROPA UCM group has developed a broad experience in climate variability studies during the last 10 years. The group has focused its attention on the study of the Tropical and Extratropical Atlantic Variability, in particular in air-sea interactions (Polo et al., 2005, 2008a,b), SST forced tropical and extratropical atmospheric teleconnections and impacts, relation to the Tropical Atlantic (Rodríguez-Fonseca and Castro, 2002; Rodriguez-Fonseca et al., 2006; García-Serrano et al., 2008; Losada et al., 2007; Losada et al., 2010b) and North Atlantic Oscillation forcings (Gomara et al, 2014,2015). Besides, TROPA group has done a step forward on the understanding of West African Moonson (Rodríguez-Fonseca et al. 2011; Losada et al.2010a; Mohino et al. 2011a,b,c,d) through the research developed for the European project AMMA-EU.

The multidecadal variability of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans has been investigated through the analysis of the lastest state-of-art climate models, trying to isolate the internal and externally forced variability (Villamayor and Mohino 2014). Also , an evaluation of the decadal predictions in the frame of the CMIP5 project has been achieved recently in relation to the Sahelian rainfall (Mohino et al., 2016).

Nowadays, TROPA is a reference group at international level, with published results in impacting journals and participation in European projects.

The group has achieved a background in data analysis (observations and models), determination of predictors for seasonal to decadal forecast, and a thorough knowledge of teleconnection dynamics, air-sea interactions and associated impacts. The group has developed skills in numerical simulations with General Circulation Models. In particular, the Speedy GCM, UCLA-AGCM and UCLA-AGCM-MIT-OGCM models and NEMO models. Moreover, the group has applied its knowledge about climate teleconnections in developing a statistical prediction tool, which considers different predictor fields and includes the non-stationarity of the teleconnections (Suárez and Rodríguez-Fonseca 2014).

NATIONAL PROJECTS

1. Title of the project:Impact of the MJO on West Africa in the CMIP5 simulations Reference : COOPA20025From: March 2014 up to September 2014Finantial Entity : CSIC, SpainQuantity : 9700 €Principal Investigator: Dra. Belén Rodríguez Fonseca

3. Title of the project: Actualization of resources at the Simeon Fongang Laboratory of Atmospheric and Ocean Physics at UCAD (Senegal)Reference: 63 from the IX UCM Call for Cooperation and Development Projects 2012Finantial Entity: Complutense University of Madrid, UCMQuantity: 20.534€From May 2013 up to September 2014Principal Investigator: Dra. Elsa Mohino HarrisSummary of the project

4. Title of the project: Project for Innovation and Improvement of the quality of teaching activity: Virtual Laboratory of Meteorology and ClimateReference: 122PCD1144From 2011 up to 2012Finantial Entity: Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Vicerrectorado de Evaluación de CalidadQuantity: 3000 eurosPrincipal Investigator: Dra. Belen Rodriguez de Fonseca

5. Title of the project: Short term climate change predictability and projectionsReference: CGL2011-13564-E From February 2012 up to January 2013Finantial Entity: Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciónQuantity: 35.000. EURPrincipal Investigator: Dr. Elsa Mohino HarrisSummary of the project

7.Title of the project: Creation and Donation of a forecast statistical model of Sahel rainfallReference :VR: 101/11From 2011 up to 2012Finantial Entity: Complutense University of Madrid, UCMQuantity: 29.340. €Principal Investigator: Dra Belén Rodríguez de Fonseca

8. Title of the project: Tropical Atlantic variability and the Climate ShiftReference :CGL2009-10285 From 2010 up to 2012Finantial Entity : Spanish Ministry of Science and InnovationQuantity: 196000 €Principal investigator: Dra Belén Rodríguez de Fonseca

9. Title of the project: Global Climate modelization by means of a hierarchy of climatic models. Application to the Iberian Peninsula (MOVAC)Reference: 200800050084028Finantial Entity: Spanish Ministry of EnvironmentFrom: December 2008 up to December 2011Quantity: 408.653,72 EURPrincipal Investigator: Dra Maria Luisa Montoya

11. Title of the project: Study of the physical mechanisms involved in the predictability of winter climate anomalies in the Euro-Atlantic sectorReference: REN2002-03424From 2005 up to 2005Finantial Entity: Spanish Ministry of Science and TechnologyQuantity: 59800 €Principal Investigator: Belén Rodríguez de Fonseca

INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

12. Title of the project: PREFACE: Enhancing prediction of Tropical Atlantic climate and its impacts .Finantial Entity: European Union (FP7 Program)From: November 2013 up to October 2017Quantity: 512 000 €Principal Investigator: Belén Rodríguez de Fonseca (IP from UCM)